While this year's 1,078-member freshman class is the biggest and most selective yet, the number of accepted students who chose to enroll is slightly lower than last year. According to University spokesman Dennis O'Shea, this dip "is occurring at universities across the country," especially the more selective institutions.
Hopkins accepted 3,324 of its 11,105 applicants for the Class of 2008, setting a record-low acceptance rate of 28.4 percent -- 1.2 percent lower than last year's 29.6 percent rate. But the yield, or number of students accepted who chose to enroll, was 31 percent, compared to last year's 35 percent yield. O'Shea said this drop could be due to the fact that students are applying to more colleges, a trend that lowers the overall yield for each individual school.
Geoffrey Witham, online counseling coordinator for Omni College Counseling, agreed. "Students are canvassing colleges with applications ... the average student is applying to 10 [schools] or more," he said.
Another possible explanation, according to O'Shea, is that less-selective schools are offering more appealing financial packages, enticing students who may have otherwise attended a more selective university.
"We've had a good four or five years of a soft economy," Witham said. "More students could be opting for state schools than [for] private colleges. One in six students is saying, "Cool, I got into Hopkins, but it's too expensive."
"The old emphasis was on increasing applicants and decreasing the acceptance rate -- now more attention [is paid] to yield ... [and] how to appeal to students who are interested in the school, not just the best students."
Although Director of Admissions John Latting could not be reached for comment, O'Shea also said that recent efforts have focused heavily on increasing the number of minority students.
The percentage of minority students at Hopkins has indeed been rising, from eight percent in 2001 to 14 percent in 2002 and, finally, to last year's record-high of 15 percent. Although this year's minority percentage remained at 15 percent, O'Shea sees no cause for concern. "There's no indication of a plateau," he said. "It's still part of an upward trend."
The Class of 2008 is 54 percent male and 46 percent female, with 737 students in the School of Arts and Sciences and 350 students in the Whiting School of Engineering. The five states most represented, in order, are New Jersey, New York, Maryland, California and Pennsylvania, and the median SAT I combined score is 1400, up 10 points from last year's 1390.
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